


We're  Just Like Ghostbusters

by Wang_Fire



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/F, F/M, I'll get better at tagging as soon as I become creative, M/M, Pizza boy's coming later too, Titles gonna make sense later, eventual billdip, it's Bill, pizza boys not an oc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-07-25 08:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7525126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wang_Fire/pseuds/Wang_Fire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moving to a new town and starting college has Dipper's hands a little too full to go find monsters to chase and mysteries to solve. Thankfully, his new room mate seems to have enough of both to go around and sure as shit Dipper wants in.  Pretty soon they're running around in suits taking care of odd jobs and becoming overly familiar with the hot pizza delivery man. Keep his grades up, defeat baddies in the dark, hide it from his family, flirt shamelessly for that pizza, he can totally handle this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to apologize in advance for and grammatical or spelling errors. I'd also like to apologize if this turns out to be horrifyingly boring, I do my best but most of the time it starts to blend together. Let me know how you like it!

"Hurry up!" Dipper hissed at his room mate while glancing down the hall to the elevator. The building he lived in was an old brick one that was ten stories. A spiral staircase was to his left while the elevator that had been added only a few years prior was situated on the opposite end of the hallway. Each floor had six rooms that where quiet spacious and renovated around the same time the elevator was put in. Dipper had only moved in two semester ago but he was still very aware of the odd hours that his neighbors kept.

They traipsed in and out of their homes at all hours to do God knows what and going who knows where. It didn't exactly bother him, in fact it only added to his excitement. Moving to a new, bigger city to attend college was the biggest adventure he'd had since his first summer at Gravity Falls. Don't get him wrong, every summer after that had been equally enjoyed but one can only be so shocked at the sight of gnomes after a horde tries to make your twin their queen in the first week. This place really was a steal, and he had Wendy to thank for it. 

Mabel and Dipper had initially been accepted to the same University but the elder twin opted to go abroad to the sister school for the first year. And honestly, Dipper fully supported her. Their parents where a little apprehensive seeing as the twins had always been together and given Mabel's initial panic attacks when Dipper had almost skipped high school altogether. It took some convincing but eventually Mabel assured them that she was OK and this was what they both wanted, a chance to be on their own like every other college freshman. She'd gone with Pacifica to Europe and that left Dipper to find lodgings by himself. He'd almost given up on finding anything in the remotely safe parts of town being within budget when he got a call from Wendy. Wendy had become a police officer, funnily enough, in the town over. Her drinking buddy was the apartment buildings security guard, Paula, who had heard one of the tenants was looking for a room mate. Dipper jumped at the chance and pretty soon was moving in. 

His room mate was definitely a new experience. Most of the folks from his home town had been laid back middle classers that had strong moral codes while being slightly stuffy. Liv was an insane roller coaster of psycho that switched on and off with dizzying force. It was honestly like living with a more and generally happy Grunkle Stan. She totally supported Dippers weirdness while wreaking havoc where ever they went. 

"Oh, you like ghost? Let's break into this abandoned warehouse and see if any show."

"Issues with your paper? Here's some illegally obtained research that's perfect for your argument."

"Need a ride across town? I don't know where my license is and this technically isn't my car, but buckle up!"

In fact, it was her "helping" him that was causing him so much distress at the moment.  
Balancing on their kitchen chair in the corner of the hallway, Liv finished screwing in their cameras ceiling mount. 

"This would have gone a lot faster if you would have just done it! You're taller and this was your idea!" She glared down, tossing him the drill. 

He scrambled to catch it and shot back, "Oh hell no! I said I wanted to catch a hotel haunting on tape, not invade the privacy of our floor mate's and possibly get sued! "

"Well, we live in a hotel-,"

"This is an apartment building! "

"And it is haunted -"

"Says who?! "

"And it's not like we're doing this to see who sleeps with who-"

"Liar."

She groaned and rolled her head back, "Look, it'll be fine. Ours will sit right behind the real one and stream live to the laptop. We put it in the darkest corner so even coming up from the stairs people won't notice."  
Dipper frowned, still unsure but slowly caving in. He only had about a month left to turn in his application for the annual Amateur Ghost Hunting Competition, but between his busy school and work schedule he'd had no time to work on it. When odd thumping noises in the hall that no one would admit to causing started he'd been ecstatic in thinking it was a ghost. He'd made the mistake of sharing his excitement with Liv and here they were minutes later, vandalizing the ceiling and illegally invading the privacy of all the walked this hallway. But really, this was his chance to easily score material and make the deadline without taking time away from studies. 

He shook his head, "And if they do see it? "  
Seeing Dipper's resolve to do no evil crumbling, she reached into her back pocket and pulled our a strip of paper. 

"To be removed when I get paid enough, " she read out loud. 

If it weren't for the late hour and the ton of questions they'd have to answer if caught, he'd have laughed. The maintenance man fixed anything and everything but the security of the hotel fell upon Paula who did an iffy job at best. Sticking a note on something she didn't want to deal with was exactly what she'd do. It really was perfect.

Dipper began to relax and looked up at Liv with a mixture of wonder and slight suspicion. 

"I don't know how you can be so calm, doesn't this make you a little nervous?"

"Dude, no. I do shit hundreds of times as stressful around people a lot more dangerous than Ms. Stenson, " she scoffed. 

This time Dipper did laugh, an image of the floor's crazy cat lady trying to intimidate anyone loosening him up more. Liv hopped down from her perch and looked up at him, "Think the came done syncing with your laptop?"

"It should be, " he nodded. 

One thing he'd noticed right away about Liv was that she looked a lot younger than she was. Standing barely at 5"2 with waist long hair and big eyes had people mistaking her for sixteen more often than not. Liv's wardrobe manly consisted of booty shorts and hoodies so he wasn't really surprised. Opening the door to their shared apartment he glanced back at her, "How old are you again? "

"Twenty, " she responded, going straight to the living room's coffee table. Sitting on the floor instead of the couch, she checked the laptop to see if the camera had finished syncing up.  
He almost pitied her, being two years older than him yet five inches shorter. Key word, almost. She may have been an imp but her ferocity more than made up for it. More times than he cared to admit she'd beaten him in an impromptu wrestling match. Mabel teased him mercilessly when she found out he roomed with a dwarf Amazonian. Honestly, though, how was something so small so strong? And how did she get this place by herself in the first place? 

Dipper stood silently, eyes beginning to roam over the space. There was a small hallway leading into the apartment, a table on the left to hold keys and other junk, it opened up into the living room that held a couch, the coffee table, a recliner, and on the far wall was covered by the entertainment center. To the right was the kitchen and dining room, kitchen being the first space on the right and the counter that held the sink was what separated it from the dining room. If you walking straight past that you'd to a longer hallway that held three rooms. Two bedrooms and a bathroom.

One of the rooms was Dippers and the other was just storage for both of their left over things. Liv's room was the door to the right of the couch, practically hidden. She kept swearing that she'd clean out the storage room and turn it into a game room but her job pulled her away more often than not. 

What she did exactly, Dipper did not know. It was one of his first mysteries when moving in and he was still working on it. 

"Damn!" she turned to look at Dipper, "Hey, who had the USB port last? It has the password for all my accounts." 

Dipper frowned, vaguely recalling tossing it in her direction a few days ago after he'd paid his share of the electricity bill. 

"I'm pretty sure it's in your room," he walked around the table and couch, "you need email information, or something?"

"Yeah, I'm going to hook it up so the live streams save there and we won't have to worry about the memory card filling up," she frowned at the screen, trying to remember at least one of her emails. She had a lot of them, Dipper mused as he rounded the table and made his was between the couch and recliner to her door. The total was five, two for business (whatever that was), two for fun, and a personal email. 

Dipper snorted, "Good luck remember one without your cheat sheet. "

Liv's eyes darted to him and then back to the screen as he reached for the door to her room. It took less than a second for her to whip her head back to him, realizing where he was going. 

"No!!" she yelled, albeit a little late. 

It took less than a second for him to turn the knob and for two seconds he'd stared at her in confusion before her door swung open to reveal a Gremoblin standing in all it's glory. 

Dipper's eyes turned into saucers before squeezing shut. 

"Holy shit! " he screeched in an unmanly fashion and ducked his head down sharply so his chin hit his chest. Backpedaling as fast as possible to get some distance between him and the hulking beast, Dipper tripped over the recliner and sent himself into the right column of the entertainment center. As his back slammed painfully into the wood, his eyes snapped open and he quickly averted them to Liv.

"Run! " he yelled at her, "And don't look it in the eyes! "

She was still sitting in the middle of the couch, that same look of shock on her face as when he'd opened the door. Movement caught his eye and he froze, the Gremoblin was going to lunge. Dipper's hand shot above his head to grab one of the many heavy, pointless objects that Liv had hoarded. 

'I will never ask her to throw away anything ever again,' Dipper swore as he quickly turned his head back to the beast. Making sure to keep his gaze well below the its eye level, he readied himself for an attack that never came. The Gremoblin tipped forward only to go crashing all the way to the floor, the room shuddering in it's wake. 

CD's from the shelves above rained down on Dipper as he stared at the fallen Gremoblin. His arm was still raised with the makeshift weapon, a bronze statue made in the likeness of Johnny Depp, while he blinked in surprise.

Liv had jumped up and was standing on the couch now, hands weakly raised, "I can explain. "

Looking back and forth between what should have killed him moments ago and Liv he finally started to come out of his stupor. Unfortunately, that led way to panic. 

"Oh-My-Gosh-We-Have-To-Call-Great-Uncle-Ford!!" He surged up and ran for his phone. 

"Wait! " Liv lunged for him, clearing the table and catching his legs. 

"Look I know a monster just popped out of your room and it doesn't make any sense to you to call my old as dirt relative, but please!! He knows about this!! I have to tell him! "

Easily overpowering him, Liv sat on his lower back and yanked his arms behind him. 

"Listen! You can't tell him!"

"He can help! I never told you this because I never thought something like this would happen but my Great Uncle is-"

"I know who he is!" she hollered and he finally stopped struggling. 

"What!?" Dipper's mind was running slow from the mild panic attack, but he could still caught onto her statement. "You know he's -"

"A special agent for the FBI that deals almost exclusively in paranormal anamolies? Yes!" She huffed out, still pinning him to the floor.

"It took years for him to finally tell me, how do you know?" he craned his neck back to look at her. When he was younger, Dipper worshipped the ground his Great Uncle walked on as soon as he met him. Ford was not only an amazing scientist but a well reknowned officer of the law and Dipper spent all the time he could with him. Eventually, he snuck his way into the basement at his Great Uncle's place and discovered all the top secret files. Confronting Ford had not gone well but after a few days things smoothed over. 

"Well, it's not like I walked up and asked him, I've never even met him face to face," her expression went sour, "And I hope I never will, he'll throw my ass in jail."

"Then how do you know?" his arms were going numb but he pushed the discomfort to the back of his mind. Now that he was starting to realize the Gremoblin had most likely never been a threat, he was getting excited. 

"I technically do what he does, just not with a badge, or warrents, or any actual authority," she looked away at the last bit, "The FBI has a tendency to arrest people that have fucked up royally with the supernatural whether or not they come clean. People come to me because I can take care of their problems without arresting them, you know, seeing as I don't have the authority to."

"That's insane! The FBI at least have the tools and manpower to deal with these things, you're gonna get yourself killed," his brain had started working at full speed. Great Uncle Ford had talked about people that acted like vigilantees and the stories rarely ended well. But, some Ford had let it slip that some of them did the job better than his co-workers.

"I technically have, but that's neither here nor there," she beamed down at him, "I swear I've got this under control."

"Then explain that," he jerked his head in the directions of the Gremoblin. 

"It's possible that I completely forgot about him, but he is knocked out with fairy dust. And on that note I may have used a little too much. "

"How much is a little?"

"He's not waking up until next week. "

Dipper mulled over everything in his head and briefly considered discussing his next move with Mabel before shaking the thought away. His twin wasn't here, it was time to make decisions on his own. 

"OK," he nodded once while staring at the floor, "You can let me up, my arms are now noodles so don't worry about me going for the phone."

Liv gave a small apology before helping him up. The two turned to look at the wrinkly creature sprawled out in the floor. 

"You know, with all that training and man power that the FBI boasts, you'd think Paula would have noticed this, " she wondered out loud. 

"Paula? She's a security guard, I highly doubt that counts as FBI, " he gave Liv a confused look. 

"Dude, no, Paula's actually an FBI agent," she mirrored Dipper's expression. It both dawned on them that Dipper was missing something. 

"Whoa whoa whoa, no way, there's no way," he argued, "that's just Wendy's drinking buddy."

"Yeah, drinking buddy that started working here two weeks before you moved in. I had been outside talking with Ms. Stenson about how I had more rooms than I need when Paula walked right in to get the job," she looked up and recalled, "She literally crossed the street to come apply as soon as I said it. "

Dipper frowned, "But why? Why come for a job she didn't need and why wouldn't Wendy just tell me that they worked together?"

"At first, I thought they'd caught onto my business, but the next day she came up and told me about you and asked if I wouldn't mind sharing the space," she grimaced, "Not to ruin your first real world experience or anything, but you're being babysat by your Uncle."

Dipper's insides went cold before twisting uncomfortablly, his face going hot as the words sunk in.

"No way," he barely whispered, "No fucking way!!"

Liv stood by as he continued to shout curses. The worst insult of this whole mess, Dipper thought, was that it blatantly showed how little Ford trusted him. The man had vehemently protested Dipper going into the FBI's program, claiming it was too dangerous for someone his age but now Dipper was seeing more into it. 

He wasn't trustsd at all. Not only was his Uncle never going to let him work in the same field, the field he had loved since a boy, he was making sure Dipper never had the chance to even remotely explore that side of the world again. He was also angry at Wendy, not only did she lie about Paula, she lied about being a regular cop. 

And Mabel, how much did she know? 

"Hey, I have no problems listening to you vent but I've gotta take care of this thing first, " she nudged the gremoblin with her foot. 

Dipper froze and had an idea. It was a stupid idea and he knew it but where else was the opportunity going to come from? 

"No, " he stated firmly. 

"No? We can't exactly keep this as a pet, it doesn't shed but that's the least of it's issues," she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh, it's leaving the apartment alright, but it's got going to be you that drags him back to whatever forest he came from, " Dipper stood up straighter and ignored all the warning signs going off in his head, "WE'RE going to put him back, and then your going to hire me."


	2. Whose Van Is This?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again sorry for any errors, I hope you like it !

Dipper couldn't believe he'd said that and from the look on Liv's face, she wasn't expecting it either. 

"Really!?," she squealed as her face lit up, "You wanna work with me?! "

She danced around him excitedly before stopping, only inches from his face. 

"You're lucky I'm not too concerned with dragging others into horrific life choices," she finished her happy dance, "Alright, let's start by getting Fluffy back to the forest."

Dipper glanced from her to "Fluffy" skeptically, "I know you're a lot stronger than you look, but there's no way you can drag this dude to the elevator."

Rolling her eyes, Liv grabbed the Johnny Depp statue that Dipper had dropped when she'd tackled him. 

"As if I'd ever do that much work," she twisted the statues head off and turned the body upside down. A test tube that was full of tiny crystals fell into her hand. Dipper watched as she uncorked it, glanced at Fluffy with a hum, and then shook three pieces onto the table. 

He shuffled forward to get a better look while Liv slide the tube into the statue and put Johnny back together. The crystals looked like salt rocks except instead of a pale pink tint there was a blue glow. 

As she put Johnny back on his shelf she reached behind the assortment of junk and pulled out a pair of black gloves. Dipper shook his head, it wasn't safe to assume that anything in the house was junk anymore. He eyed a cat toy on the floor before inching away from it. Seeing as neither one of them owned a cat it was especially suspicious. 

Before he could even ask what was going on, she grabbed the crystals in a gloved hand and then crushed them over Fluffy. Liv sucked in a breath as seconds went by she looked almost worried. But then Fluffy began to rise. Dipper watched in awe as the five hundred pound creature floated to the ceiling. 

"Oh, thank God," Liv pulled the gloves off and went to toss them, "I forgot to check if those were floating crystals or fire crystals so for a moment I was nervous."

"Seriously?!" Dipper screeched, suddenly aware that they could have just had a nasty, accidental bonfire. 

"I was a hundred percent sure until right after I crushed them, " she shrugged and came back with a long string.

Liv handed it to Dipper and instructed him to tie it around Fluffy's waist after she pulled him down a bit. 

"So," he began, holding the string "what's the plan? I know I said something about an elevator earlier but we risk Paula seeing us. Are we going down the fire escape? "

"No," Liv opened the front door, "We're taking the stairs. "

Dipper put on the straightest face he could muster and looked up at the monster that floated on his attached string. 

"You want to take this thing-"

"His name is Fluffy. "

Dipper shot her a look, "Fluffy, you want to take Fluffy down five flight of stairs in a heavily populated building. "

"Everyone's asleep or out except Paula, " she pointed a finger at him while placing he other on her hip, "the longer we wait, the more likely someone's going to walk out their apartment or be coming home and see us. Plus , I have a plan for Paula."

Dipper groaned low in his throat before letting it build and prepared to fight the child in front of him for a better escape plan. 

Ten minutes later they were two flights down the stairs as Dipper grumbled, "This is ridiculous."

His argument from earlier was shot down when Liv pointed out the window was too small for Fluffy to go through. 

"Not like getting it through the door was any easier, " he said sourly, "And what kind of name is Fluffy? "

"Are you talking to yourself? " Liv asked from the back. 

"Yes, " he snapped back to her, "It actually makes me feel a lot less crazy than talking to you. "

To keep Fluffy from bumping into the ceiling repeatedly, they'd decided Dipper would lead the way holding the monsters front down by it's arm and Liv held the back end by it's leg. If someone didn't take too long of a glance they'd just look like they were carrying a huge prop for a movie. 

"Speaking of crazy, what's your plan for Paula?"  
Dipper asked as the rounded the corner and passed the second floor. 

"You are going to go up to her and ask what joint the hottest delivery boy in town works at," she adjusted her hold on Fluffy's leg, "While you distract her with this shocking statement I'll haul ass with Fluffy through the front door. "

His feet hit the ground floor and he looked up at Liv, holding Fluffy's legs kept her on the stairs. 

"Why do I have to come out the closet, " he huffed as Liv squeezed passed the hulking form to stand beside him. 

"Because I know exactly where the van is, " she took over Fluffy's arm and shoved Dipper towards the door that the led to the Lobby. 

The van was in the parking garage across the street so they couldn't go out the door into the alley, that would mean going around the entire building and not even Dipper wanted to risk that. 

"What about the security cameras? There's none in the stairwell but I know for sure the have some in lobby, " he was getting nervous about Paula catching them. More so, he was worried about Ford finding out. 

"It's fine, go!" Liv shoved him through the door, patience gone. 

Dipper stumbled into the lobby and looked around. He'd come out on the back left corner and could see the elevator all the way to the right. In the center was the security desks with the doors in front of it and the offices for records and the buildings owner behind it. A few chairs and a table was placed between the entrance and the circular desk but Dipper was confident Liv could get passed them without incident. 

"Hey, Dipper!" Paula popped up from behind the desk and laughed as Dipper jumped, "Whoa! Didn't mean to scare you!"

Dipper chuckled nervously as he mad his way he the desk, "Oh it's fine, what we're you doing?"

She held up a few wires, "Someone must have pulled these out on accident, cameras are all offline. I was trying to put them back."

Dipper sighed in relief and leaned over the edge of the desk as if he was assessing the damage. 

"Hmm, maybe if I was at a better angle I could see more, " he began to walk around the desk and out of the corner of his eye saw Liv putting the door jam in place. 

Now at the opposite side, he made a face, "Well, good news is that they're all color coded. "

Paula laughed and shook her head at him. She was about to turn back around when Dipper sucked in a breath, now or never. 

"But hey, " he caught her attention, "I was wondering if you could help me with something."

She sat in her swivel chair and face him, "Is that why you're down here so late? I was wondering, what do you need? "

Liv took that as her cue, Dipper saw her dash with Fluffy in tow to the nearest chair. 

"Well, " he began, willing his eyes to stay on Paula, "I was just going to ask if you knew any food places around that had a cute waiter or two."

Paula giggled, "Oh? Looking for a girlfriend, huh? "

His smile tightened as he mentally cured the girl that was currently picking her way through furniture with a floating beast. He was hoping that when he'd said waiter and not waitress that Paula would catch on, but no. Dipper was actually going to have to say it. 

"Not exactly, I was thinking more boyfriend than girlfriend. "

As he said that, Liv cleared the chairs and made a dash for the door. And right as Paula's mouth dropped open, he could see Liv making it through only to be pulled off her feet and yanked back as Fluffy lodged in the entryway. 

Before she landed on the ground with an, "Oomf! " Dipper slammed his hand on the desk and laughed as loud as possible. 

"You don't have to look so shocked Paula! " he continued to laugh and hoped he'd covers up any noise Liv's fall had made. 

"I, I just-" her face grew red with embarrassment, "I figured since Wendy said you'd had a huge crush on her when you we're younger that-"

"It's fine, it's fine, " Dipper's face was redder than Paula's now. A small part of it was because Wendy had told her about his old crush but the larger and more important factor was that Fluffy was stuck in the doorway. 

Liv was yanking on the string to try and dislodge him but he wasn't budging. 

She whipped her head in Dipper's direction and heatedly mouthed, "Stall! "

He wanted to mouth back, "I am! " but Paula had begun to look him in the eye again. 

Dipper pulled on a strained smile and looked Paula over. She was wearing her uniform and had her brown hair up in pig tails, the ends trailing lightly over her shoulders. 

When they'd first met he'd thought she was really pretty and thought about asking her out. Now that he was asking her when to find a boyfriend that that idea was thrown out. Not that he would have gotten far anyways, seeing as she was an undercover agent sent to babysit him. 

Paula still hadn't answered him but at least she was busy smiling nervously and trying to find something on her phone than looking at the door. Dipper chanced a look and was surprised to find that Fluffy was no longer stuck. 

"Here, " Paula's voice interrupted his thoughts as she thrust her phone at him. 

He went cross eyed for a second before taking the phone and reading, "Pizza Temple. "

His brows furrowed in confusion as he handed the phone back. 

"The have great food and-, " she smiled sheepishly at him, "at least one cute waiter that I know of."

"Thanks Paula! " he grinned. Time to make his exit. 

"I've gotta go, I have some friends waiting. I'll definitely check it out though! " he waved goodbye and then made his way out. 

Once outside he jogged across the street and into the parking garage. He got into a few feet in before slamming into someone else and nearly falling on his face. 

"What took you so long!" Liv shouted and then dragged him to a nearby van. It was a dark blue, not as creepy as a white van and not as suspicious as a black van. That's what she'd argued, anyway. 

He climbed into the passenger side and slammed the door. She went to put the keys into the ignition but stopped. Liv looked at him and the to the back where Fluffy and been tied to the floor. They made eye contact again then promptly fell into a fit of giggles that quickly escalated. 

"He got stuck into the door! " Liv laughed even louder. 

"You should have seen Paula's face when I asked for a boyfriend!" Dipper was gasping now and clutching his side. 

They finally calmed down and Liv started the van. As she pulled away and onto city streets Dipper smiled to himself. This was fun, totally against everything his Great Uncle stood for and he'd probably be disowned by him if caught, but Dipper couldn't help but feel happy. 

"Hey," he nudged her, "I know I said you had to hire me, but is that even how this works? "

She turned her signal light on to go left an laughed, "Yes, although it's more of an internship for you until you get certified. "

"Wait, this is a legit business?" With the way Great Uncle Ford talked, anybody that dealt with this outside a government agency was a criminal. 

Liv nodded as she continued to watch the road, "It's not as glamorous as being an FBI agent and we don't have as pristine of a reputation as they do, but being a Cleaner is legal."

"Cleaner? "

"We clean up everyone's supernatural mess, " she rolled her eyes, "The name's awfully boring, I know. If you can think of a cooler one please tell me."

"Why does the FBI arrest Cleaners then?" he turned in his seat to check Fluffy's restraints. Fluffy was still out cold and Dipper wondered how long the floating would last. 

"Taking care of people's supernatural messes is not illegal. What those people did to get into that mess is sometimes illegal, especially if they did it on purpose and it just went wrong," Liv pulled onto the interstate. 

That made sense, Dipper ran the conversation through his head again and realized something. 

"Is there a uniform?" he was getting excited and started to bounce in his seat. 

"Yeah, " Liv eyed him wearily, "but you don't have to wear it all the time, it's mostly for-"

"Can I see it?" He could barely contain himself now. Liv nodded and said something about there being one behind his seat. He reached behind and grabbed a bag. Dipper tore into it and pulled everything out. There was a pair of dark red cargo pants, a utility belt, boots, gloves, and a dark red long sleeved shirt. 

"Like I said, we don't have to wear it all the time. It mostly for jobs that we know will be messy," she waved one hand in the air, "Like imps let loose in a factory of paint or if we have to go into an abandoned building for a haunting-"

"Haunting?" Dipper hadn't really been listening until that part, too busy inspecting the uniform.

"Ghost and shit, you know? " 

Oh boy, did he know. He calmed himself down, willing his inner nerd to be still for just one more question. 

"Do we have vacuum guns for the ghosts?" his voice had gotten high near the end. 

"For the weaker ones, yes. The worse they get the more likely we'll have to exercise them," he whooped and pumped his fist in the air. 

"Dude, what's with you?" she laughed as he continued to sort through the items in his lap. 

"It's not a jumpsuit, but no one will notice with this belt."

"OK? What of it?"

Dipper grinned even harder and said "We're just like Ghostbusters!"

Liv tried to keep a blank face but soon she was grinning just as much as he was, "We totally are."

The drive lasted about an hour and a half long until Liv was pulling off the interstate into a wooded area. They untied Fluffy from the floor and walked him deep into the forest. Coming to a stop next to a tree that Liv deemed big enough, they set to work tying Fluffy to it. 

"I know he's going to break through the ropes when he wakes but is it alright to leave him here like this?" Dipper was worried that something would attack him before he had a chance to wake up. 

"He'll be good, the floating will last maybe twenty more minutes and I doubt anyone's going to know I over did it on the sleeping dust, " she turned to walk back to the van, "No one's going to mess with a Gremoblin, even if he is asleep."

Dipper gave the beasts one last look before running after Liv. 

"How'd you get him into your room in the first place?" It had been bugging him for a while now. 

"They love treats, so I left a trail that took him through the alleyway, up the stairs, and into my room where I hit him with the dust," she yawned and got into the drivers seat, "then you came home, yelling about the hallway noises being able to save your project and I just forgot."

Dipper stared at her, he'd mentioned the noises yesterday after he'd got back from classes and she'd immediately thrown herself into the issue.   
Liv had talked about it with him the rest of the day and in the morning had the idea to put up a camera in the hall. She insisted it was better than waiting at the door with a camera 24/7. Finding a spare camera in her hoarding room had taken all day and they'd only just put the mount in the ceiling at ten o'clock at night before this whole thing started. Now it was almost 2 AM. 

"You forgot about an enormous goblin like creature that could damn our souls with one look for two days?"

"First of all, his name is Fluffy, " she scoffed, "And secondly, I've forgotten worse. Now, if you done with the questions I'd like to let my bad decisions fade into the distance."

There was one more thing that bothered Dipper, though.

"Liv, whose car is this for?"

"Certainly not mine. I only threw the bag in after I got Fluffy anchored down."

The rest of the ride back went with out incident and as the clock struck five AM Dipper almost crawled through the lobby doors. 

"Well, someone looks like they had a wild night," Paula leaned over her desk and grinned.

Dipper smiled weakly and headed for the elevator. No way was he taking the stairs like Liv. To keep up appearances he had to come through the front or Paula would get suspicious and Liv had to come in from the alley so she wouldn't be seen.

"Did you get a chance to check out the pizza place?" Damn, he'd completely forgot about that.

"I'm sorry, no," he smiled apologetically, "I kinda lost track of things."

The elevator doors were closing when he heard, "They do delivery!"


	3. That's One Hot Pizza

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The usual, sorry about grammar and spelling errors. Please enjoy!

"As you can see, the chart that came from this equation is quite complex but if you correctly isolate the formulas and solve them accordingly there should be no trouble," Mr. Dale, Dipper's calculus teacher droned on. 

Dipper tuned him out and stared at the clock hanging above the board. He had his own watch but the analogue clocks ticking hands were hypnotizing. There was only ten minutes left until three and then his day would really start. 

After the Fluffy incident, Dipper had crawled to bed and slept most of the Sunday away. He assumed Liv had done the same because they were both awoken by someone banging on the front door. 

Stumbling into the hallway, he saw Liv march from the direction of her room to rip open the front door. 

"Yes?!" she was seething. 

"Is this yours?" Dipper knew that monotone voice anywhere, Jacob. He was the neighbor across the hall and to the left of them that constantly wore beanies, shorts, and tie dye t-shirts. He had asked Liv why Jacob was always so relaxed and she'd said, "Weed, lots of weed."

Liv was already shorter than him so even though he was a few feet behind her all he had to do was stand on his tip toes to see what Jacob had. 

It was their dining room chair, why did Jacob their dining room chair? Dipper hit himself, the Gremoblin Fluffy's comatose adventure in their apartment came rushing back to him. 

Liv seemed to be too tired to register that what she was looking at was a chair. She squinted at it while leaning away. He could almost hear her thought process of, "I'm too tired to know what this is but I know it isn't shiny."

Dipper was about to speak up when she decided to take the chair. 

"Thank you for returning my night stand."

"That's a chair," Jacob argued halfheartedly, already on his way back to his room. 

Slamming the door and turning away, Liv brought it to the dining room to put it back in it's place. 

She looked up at Dipper, "Our furniture escaped. "

"No, we left it in the hall last night and didn't get back to it. Jacob probably walked into it while leaving his apartment." 

Dipper passed her on his way to the fridge, he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday and was starving. Liv continued to stare at the chair as she spoke again. 

"When do your classes end tomorrow?"

He poked his head out from behind the fridge, "Three o'clock, why?"

"Meet me at the warehouse that's three blocks down from here, we have a job."

"Already?" he was definitely excited about this. 

"I was running this business before you even moved in," she commented, "jobs have been scheduled for a while now."

Dipper nodded and sat at the table with his cereal. Would she take him on every job? He hadn't told her about Ford's career but he had told her about his summers at gravity fall and the journal so she knew he wouldn't be completely useless. 

He turned to ask her but stopped when he saw her still staring at the chair. 

"Are you OK?" Dipper asked warily. 

"We should burn it for it's treachery."

"Go back to bed. Now."

Dipper's classmate began to pack up as the professor gave them their homework assignment. Knowing that he could always see the assignment online, Dipper grabbed his bag and raced out ahead of everyone. 

The university was a ten minute walk from his place and the warehouse Liv had said to meet at was another five. Dipper found it hard to no run all the way there but held back. It would do no good to get there and be tired out. He went straight there, not bothering to drop his bag at home. It seemed he didn't need to, as Liv was in front of the warehouse leaning against a van. It was green instead of blue so he knew it was a different one from two nights ago. 

"Do I want to know how you got this one?" he groaned. 

"I borrowed it, just like I borrowed all the others," she stuck her tongue at him and led him to the back of the van.

"If they don't know you're borrowing it, that's called stealing," Dipper muttered as she opened the back doors.

"Then it's a good thing they never find out," she threw a backpack at him, "hurry up and change."

They clamored into the back and she shut the door. Dipper excitedly threw his on after stripping, not even caring about modesty. He turned around and saw that Liv wasn't quite done. She was busy wrestling her shirt out of the bags zipper and had on everything but the boots. He'd noticed that both their pants were slightly baggy and figured it was for ease of movement.

Finally freeing her shirt and putting it on, she pulled out two more items from her bag to hand to Dipper.

"These are night vision goggles, it's daylight but the warehouse is sealed shut with no light going in and no electricity."

He put them on like a head band and looked at the second item, a gun.

"This is a stun gun," Dipper visibly relaxed at those words, "it shoots an electromagnetic pulse, do not shoot yourself."

She handed it to him and motioned at the holster on his utility belt. 

"If anyone asks, we're exterminators and the stun guns are for huge rats," Liv stepped out of the van and made her way to the side of the warehouse with Dipper in tow.

"Wait! What exactly is in there?" whatever it was had to be amazing.

"Pixies," Liv answered as she went about picking the lock.

Dipper was almost disappointed, pixies were feisty things but easily dealt with. It's not like he expected a dragon his first day, but still.

The lock clicked and Liv looked up at him with a serious face.

"These aren't your average pixies, they've been in this city for a while and have picked up some nasty habits," pulling her gun out of its holster, she adjusted her hold on the doorknob, "you see, you shoot, clear?"

Dipper gulped but nodded his head. He pulled his gun out and pointed it at the ground away from both of his feet. Wouldn't do to shoot himself in the foot.

"There's about three hundred in here so count what you hit," she turned her gun to the side and showed him a battery symbol, "they should last but if you get to the last one holler out and I'll come to you."

Liv started to count down from five and he tensed. Dipper had so many questions about the pixies condition, but they would have to wait. At "one" Liv turned the knob and swiftly went inside with Dipper on her heels. She closed the door smoothly and Dipper had to tug his night vision goggles on. 

The warehouse was huge, he assumed it was a storage unit at some point for a some company. Barely any light came through the boarded up windows and even that did nothing. He scanned the area and noticed crates scattered about tables and shelf racks that reached the ceiling. Paint was pealing off the walls in strips and he began to make out faint scratch marks. Liv nudged him and nodded to the ceiling. 

Dipper looked up and almost gasped, the pixies were lit up blue and would have stuck out amongst the green ceiling if they weren't covering it. He judged that they were as big as parrots which meant their wingspan was about the same. 

Not only were these larger than regular pixies, there was definitely more than three hundred. 

Liv nudged him again, nodding to her gun and putting a finger to her lips. He watched as she took aim and fired. Dipper held his breath as the stun gun silently went off and knocked down several pixies. 

So they could do this all with no fuss, he thought, as long as they didn't wake them. 

As Dipper fired in unison with Liv, his mind was running a mile a minute. 

Pixies weren't nocturnal, and they couldn't exactly see in a pitch black environment. They were native to forest and lived in hollowed out trees while causing mischief to nearby humans. Dipper couldn't help but wonder if it was the bad habit that they'd picked up that caused this behavior. 

Liv and he had made a considerable dent in the ceiling after about forty-five minutes, the ceiling now two thirds green. Dipper felt comfortable in saying that the number was considerably closer to five hundred, they were almost done. 

He knew he shouldn't have thought that as soon as the words entered his mind. It was one thing for the job to be easy, it was a completely different story to acknowledge it. 

Dipper hit a group of pixies and as they fell, a pixie that hadn't been stunned was caught in the tumble. 

He saw it stand up on wobbly legs and turn it's tiny head. Before he could think to stun it, the pixie threw it's head back and took off for the ceiling. It screeched the whole way up, a high pitched noise that had Dipper wincing. They all awoke and started an awful chatter. 

It was better than the screech but Dipper still felt his skin crawling at the sound of their fingernails hitting against each other and their teeth gnashing together. 

The pixies smelled them immediately and swooped down as one. Liv grabbed his shoulder and shoved him to his right yelling, "Run!" 

Dipper ran for his life, adrenaline coursed through him as he heard the pixies slam against the door before scrambling in his direction. 

"Don't stop firing!" he faintly heard Liv holler. 

She must have run the other way. He pointed his gun over his shoulder and repeatedly squeezed the trigger. He wasn't worried about missing, with a mass that size there was no way. 

He skirted around crates, hopped over tables, and rolled between shelves in an attempt to put some distance between the pixies and himself firing all the way. 

The chatter had died down a bit so Dipper decides to peak over his shoulder to check their numbers. 

"Bad idea," Dipper let out a strangled cry and ran harder than he thought was possible. 

Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea, he chanted in his head. What he saw when he looked back was something straight out of nightmares. The skin on their faces was stretched tight, eyes sunken in and black. They had claws instead of nails and their usually blunt teeth had become razor sharp needles, no wonder they made that horrible chatter. All of them were bald, naked, and looked starved. And in that moment he realized they weren't chasing him because he woke them up, they were chasing him to eat him. 

Dipper could hardly breath when he looked at them, they were revolting. Pixies were supposed to be childish, chubby versions of fairies with the main difference being feathered wings instead of insect like ones, but these were unrecognizable. He didn't want to know what they looked like in the light, the night vision image was enough. 

Dipper saw a figure in front of him being hounded by a cloud of blue. A cloud that chattered at a deafening volume just like his. He realized both Liv and he had run along the warehouse to the point of meeting on the opposite wall from the door. 

"Liv!" Dipper was still firing but was losing steam. They couldn't just keep running in circles, the pixies would catch them. 

Liv suddenly cut to her right and Dipper followed running along side her and to the door.   
Or at least, he thought she was headed to the door. Liv went to a dead stop in the center of the warehouse and yanked up her pants leg to grab something out of her boot. A scream crawled it's way up Dipper's throat as the blue cloud came full force. 

He had no idea what she was doing but he kept firing into the cloud and taking as many pixies as he could out. Liv stood with another stun gun in her hand and pointed it at the ceiling before firing. 

A shot rang out and suddenly glass was raining down on them and the sunlight came through. Dipper kept firing but lifted one arm to shield himself as best as he could. So it hadn't been a stun gun. 

Pixies squealed and shrank bank from the light, clawing at their own eyes. Lifting his arm a little he saw the ones that we're directly hit with the light begin to burn. Another shot and more glass was shattered to let the light pour through. 

Not having the time to or brain power to escape, the cloud of pixies collapsed in on itself and to the floor. 

If Dipper wasn't busy gasping for air he would have sighed from relief. He was drenched in sweat and dust from sprinting around and his uniform was torn in places with dark spots. Taking off his goggles to get a better look proved the dark spots to be his blood, dark red was apparently a well thought out decision.

He glanced at Liv and noticed she wasn't panting as hard as he was but she was just as sweaty and banged up. Dipper wanted to sink to the floor but it was littered with pixies so he settled for hunching over with his hands on his knees. 

"That *gasp* was NOT three hundred," he took a shuddering breath to try and steady himself. 

"I know, and that could have been a hell of a lot worse if they'd been awake," she was frowning at the mass and ripped her goggles off, "I hope you didn't expect me to want you to count after they swarmed."

Dipper laughed weakly and shook his head, "What are we going to do with them?"

"Put them in crates and then bring them to the client," she started tossing the pixies into the nearest crate. 

Normally he should be terrified that they'd wake, but he was too drained to think of what would happen. It took longer to put them all in crates than it did to knock them out. After an two hours of combing the building making sure not one was missed they loaded up he van. 

He wanted to sleep but his curiosity got the best of him. 

"Why are they like that? How'd you know about the light?"

"They we're brought here by some rich asshole and kept in that warehouse. It was boarded up like that so no one would see them, the dude was so paranoid he even painted over the skylight," she squinted at the road names and took a left. 

"They we're forced into darkness," he was starting to feel really bad for the pixies, "were they even fed?"

Liv grimaced, "In the beginning he gave them a lot of meat but when they started to get restless he'd drug them so they'd sleep for a while. They started sleeping too long and got even hungrier. Soon, the were too uncooperative for him and he stopped going around them."

Dipper felt awful, pixies weren't supposed to eat meat. Anything that wasn't fruit and nuts damaged their minds. To make matters worse they'd been drugged and practically starved. They grew the teeth and fangs with their magic to make eating the meat easier and made themselves bigger on accident.

Burying his face in his hands, Dipper fought the urge to cry for them. Those poor creatures had been taken as pets, poorly cared for, and then left to starve.

Liv pulled around a research facility and cut the engine.

"Hey," she put her hand on his shoulder, "I know this has been exhausting and it's only your first day, but you've gotta know you did a great thing."

Dipper picked his head up a little.

"The people in this building hired me to round them up so they can help them."

"Can they even be helped?" Dipper could only worry about how much meat they'd been fed.

"They deserve the chance," she unbuckled and opened her door, "wait here, they didn't know how many were in there so I have to tell them about the crates left behind."

He sighed and leaned into the seat, "They deserve the chance to be helped."

Like every other piece of information, he turned this one over in his head. Bad things were bound to happen and you can't stop them, but you can do your best to make it right. 

Dipper's door opened and he nearly fell out of the van. It was Liv, she had her bag from earlier and a new one slung on her shoulder. 

"Come on, we can't keep the is van we'll have to walk home," Dipper grabbed his bag and followed her down the street. It was a little past six so there was still a bit of traffic. He saw his reflection in a store window and became worried. 

"We're still in uniform," he whispered. 

Liv waved him off and kept walking, "We just look like kids in cosplay, don't worry."

It didn't take long to reach their apartment building and this time but of them we're taking the back alley entrance to the stairs. 

Liv stepped into the apartment and turned to look at him. 

"Listen, I'm pretty insensitive most of the time but that's because I just don't notice that what I'm saying or doing is wrong. I'm used to this shit being bad so it doesn't really get to me but if you don't want to anymore, you don't have to."

"I still want to do this, not just to spite Great Uncle Ford but because I can help someone that no one else may be able to," he grinned, "I know we won't always be saving people, but it's enough for me." 

"I promise this is going to be so much more fun, the other jobs that we have lined up won't be nearly as emotional," she fell onto the couch, "I also need to apologize for making you come out to Paula."

"I don't care that people know I like guys, I just don't like explaining that I like both," Dipped laughed.

Liv was about to say something when both their stomachs growled.

"Speaking of hot guys, Paula told me about this place that does pizza take out," he grabbed for his phone and typed in Pizza Temple, "Wanna order?"

"God yes," she got up and stretched, "I'm going shower, you do the same when your done."

With that she was off to her room. Dipper finished placing his order and made his way to the hallway bathroom. Liv had the master bedroom so they each had their own bathroom.

Showering quickly but thoroughly, Dipper grabbed an old t-shirt and threw on some pajama pants. Knowing the pizza would be there soon, Dipper pulled out a twenty, fifteen for two larges and five dollars for the tip.

A knock on the door drew his attention.

"Coming!" He yelled, stumbling over items on the floor. Making it to the door in once piece, Dipper rechecked that he held a twenty while pulling the door open.

"It was fifteen dollars right?" Dipper looked up and stopped. It was a good thing he'd finished his sentence before looking at the delivery boy because he would have surely stuttered and stopped talking altogether.

Man, Paula wasn't kidding when she said he was hot.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terribly sorry for the wait, the great flood of 2016 happened and then I got a new job and was settling in and the moved and resettled and I know none of this is relevant to the story but I'm sharing it anyways. Also I had a couple shot before finishing this one. As always sorry for the mistakes and grammatical errors, enjoy!

When you hear the words pizza delivery boy, you think pimply faced teen trying to make some cash, you don't expect to see a super model worthy man that could easily ravish you with just one glance. If he had to gauge his reaction, Dipper would say he was doing fairly well under the circumstances. The "delivery boy" was taller than Dipper with tanned skin and golden hair that reached the nape of his neck. It was shaggy and stuck outward as if he continuously ran his fingers through his hair. The visor he wore held a name tag with the word Bill written on it. 

"Ah," Dipper thought, "His name's Bill."

Bill's face was unfairly attractive with it's high cheekbones and blemish free skin. Dipper guessed they were around the same age and cursed his own luck, he paled in comparison to someone like this. Resisting the urge to pat down his own unruly, curly hair he glared at his almost translucent skin. He didn't get out much so his skin was quiet fair.

Looking at the others body, he noted it was slim but not another., Bill was merely built lean, like a swimmer or a runner. 

Mentally congratulating himself for not drooling and only slightly checking the the guy out, Dipper glanced up to finally meet eyes with him. 

He was disappointed to find that Bill's ice blue eyes were glued to his phone, texting with his free hand while the other held Dippers order.

"Yeah," he replied to Dipper's previous question, "It's fifteen."

His voice wasn't anything special but Dipper still had to resist the urge to shiver. He considered flirting with him as he traded the cash for his food but discarded the thought. 

Not only was this guy way out of his league, he was more than likely straight and he'd rather die than embarrass himself like that for no reason. 

"Keep the change," Dipper said and the guy hummed before walking off towards the elevator. Standing in the doorway holding his pizza, Dipper worried his lip in thought. 

The new job he had with Liv didn't exactly guarantee a long, healthy life and once Ford found out he was definitely losing his freedom. He shuddered, not even want to think of how Mabel would react to his secret. 

What's the harm in a little fun? 

Poking his head around the corner he saw Bill step into the elevator and grinned. 

"You know, next time send your cutest delivery boy," he shouted down the hallway at Bill. 

Bill's head snapped up and they finally made eyes contact. He gave Dipper an annoyed look that clearly read, "I am the cutest delivery boy, peasant."

"Looks like someones vain," Dipper inwardly chuckled. 

"I've got a family dinner coming up and need a hot date!" He chirped and resisted the urge to laugh as the others insulted expression turned to one of surprise and the elevator doors closed. 

With a smile on the face he strode back inside and closed the door. 

"Why were you shouting," Liv asked from the kitchen as she grabbed paper plates. 

"I just asked the delivery guy out," he laughed and set the pizza on the coffee table so he could search for the remote. 

"You did?!" She ran into the living room grinning. 

"In a round about way, yeah," he finally pulled the remote from the couch cushions and flicked the TV on, "I said I needed them to send the cutest delivery boy next time so I could ask him out."

"How is that asking him out? There could be someone there that's cuter than him," she took a bite of a slice of pizza while squinting at the screen. 

"From the look he gave me when I mentioned it, there's no way, dude knows he's hot. If he doesn't come back next time that just means he's not interested."

"Ahhh, playing it safe I see," Liv nodded sagely and picked up another slice, "Tis a good strategy. Now tell me, why are we watching kittens cartwheeling?"

Not taking his eyes off the program, which was about two plastic surgeons that fixed previous plastic surgeries gone wrong, Dipper leaned forward and grabbed her glasses from the floor. 

"Put these on before you mistake me for a lion and shoot me."

After they finished off the pizza, Dipper made sure to get his assignments done in record time and fell into his bed. Tomorrow was Tuesday and while they didn't have a job set up Liv had promised to give him the guide book for Cleaners. 

He awoke far too soon to his alarm clock going off. Dipper swung his arm down repeatedly onto the snooze button, but the ringing kept on. Groaning, he dragged himself up and turned on his lamp so he could unplug the clock. The ringing continued. 

Wait, ringing? Confused he looked at the now blank clock and realised it's alarm didn't make a ringing noise. Looking around the dark room he spotted his laptop that was halfway shut. There was light spilling around it and Dipper realized he was getting a Skype call. 

He walked over to his desk to fully open it and found that "EdibleGlitterIsLife" was calling. Knowing it was Mabel, Dipper accepted the call and sat at his desk. 

"Dipdop! Took you long enough!" She yelled as soon as the call connected. 

"Well, it is 2:00 A.M. here Mabes," Dipper yawned and held up his alarm clock to show her. 

"Why are you showing me your dead alarm clock? "

"What?" He looked at the clock and suddenly remembered unplugging it not even a minute before. Shrugging, he tossed it over his shoulder and turned his attention back to Mabel. She had put on a little make up and wore a light green blouse. It was clearly morning in the UK and she probably just finished getting ready for school when she called. 

Mabel giggled and shook her head, long brown hair swayed behind her in a high pony tail, "Anyways, the time isn't important. This is so exciting! Dipper, how could you not tell me?!"

Dipper froze in panic, how could she have found out so quickly? 

"What are you-, "

"Mabel, let's go!" Dipper was interrupted by Pacifica who was off screen trying to get Mabel out the door. 

Mabel shouted, "Coming!" over her shoulder before grinning deviously at Dipper, "Don't think your off the hook, I'll be back in a month and a half and you will give me deets."

Dipper could barely get out a goodbye before the call was ended and he was left gaping in the dark. 

He slumped back to his bed and carefully plugged his clock back in and set the time. 

It didn't take long to fall asleep but when he woke again there was still a feeling of dread. Mabel usually made a huge deal out of nothing and often became over excited, but there was still a chance that she was talking about his secret job with Liv. 

How could she know? He knew they had a bit of twin telepathy between them but even so, that was over reaching. 

He checked the time on his phone and decided to pick up his pace. Dipper's first class began at seven and it was already six-thirty. Grabbing his bag he checked his pocket for his keys before walking out. 

Dipper continued to mull it over on his walk to school. He hadn't even spoken to Wendy in a week so Mabel's new gossip about him wasn't from her. He definitely new that Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford didn't have any recent dirt on him to dish. 

Collapsing into his seat in the lecture hall, Dipper reassured himself that Mabel was not excited about his new job. Great Uncle Ford would've definitely had him in some unknown bunker already if he was the one that had informed Mabel. 

Tuesday's and Thursday's were his short days, they started with a seven o'clock morning class and ended at 11:15 AM. The morning flew by quickly and soon he found himself on his way to his part time job. He worked at the University library that also doubled as a book store. When Mabel heard he'd be swinging around on the book shelf ladders she squealed with glee and said, "You'll be just like Belle from beauty and the Beast! "

Dipper groaned at the memory as he started his shift. She'd texted him animatedly about him being Belle for two weeks. Mostly she talked about his princess coming to whisk him away from his dusty library to a life of excitement. 

He'd almost came out to Mabel on accident when he just about told her he wouldn't mind a prince saving him. 

Dipper wasn't afraid of her finding out, he knew she loved him and would accept him no matter if he was gay, straight, or bi. It was his Great Uncles that held him back. Stan was so manly and always going on about him marrying the right girl that Dipper was afraid of the backlash his confession could cause. Ford was just a no nonsense man and Dipper really had no evidence to say what he would do if Dipper said something. 

He sighed, flipping through his own book as he sat at the register. His life was a little lonely with only about five real friends that weren't family. Four university friends and then Liv. Honestly, the thought of his family dropping out of his life scared him. 

"Eh-hem, " Dipper's sad thoughts we're disrupted by a customer, "I was wondering if you could price check this for me. I'd like to see what it cost with tax included. "

"Sure, " Dipper's hand shot out for the price gun and he quickly scanned it. The machine beeped before the price appeared in red letters, "It's thirteen dollars and fifty-two cents... "

His voice died out as soon as he looked up at the customer. It was Bill. With a haughty grin in place Bill leaned on the check out counter, "Say, got any cuter employees hiding in the back, or is it just you today?"

Dipper swallowed heavily, "It's -uh- it's just me today. "

He felt his face go hot as he sunk back a little. Flirting with Bill while he was leaving Dipper's barren hallway was one thing, confronting him at his work in front of around a hundred people browsing the shelves was another. Besides, Bill'd been more like a bored teen glued to his phone back then. Now, he looked at Dipper like he wanted to eat him. It was what Dipper would call the most uncomfortable game of cat and mouse he'd ever been a part of. 

He glanced at Bill's outfit and mentally screamed. Bill had on a pale blue dress shirt under a black vest and though he couldn't see Bill's legs, he was pretty confident the were black clad and hella sexy. There was a black bow tie adorning his neck bringing Dipper to conclude it was a suit. It was a complete 180 from his Pizza Temple work shirt and stained work slacks and it made him all the better looking. 

"Hmm, I guess you'll do," Dipper cringed, wishing there was a panic button he could press. He was about to be burned in the worst way, he could feel it. He really shouldn't flirt with guys unless they basically write in blood that they're interested. 

"You see, I have this new suit and I need to wear it to dinner somewhere. "

"Look I'm really sorry I didn't mean to- wait.. What? " Dipper looked confused as Bill began to howl with laughter. They were shushed by several patrons before he quieted down. 

"Jeez, kid, calm down, " he got out with a couple of chuckles, "I'm just doing what you did, albiet a bit more direct, with meeting the family, and you have no where to run so you have to answer. "

He's asking me out, Dipper shouted to himself. This ten is asking out a six. Dipper wasn't always the brightest, but he knew when a miracle is handed to you, you take it and run. 

"That's um, yeah, yes I'll go out with you, ugh, " as Dipper struggled through his reply, Bill's grin grew into a full blown smile. His eyes lit up in an almost eerie way. 

"Perfect! Thursday night good for you? " Bill asked as he bounced backwards. 

Dipper could only nod, his brain shutting down from shock. 

"Good! " Bill sauntered towards the door, "I'll pick you up at 6:30."

With one last wave Bill was gone, leaving Dipper with the book he'd brought to be price checked. Dipper turned the book over to read the title and promptly blanched.

Throwing the book under the counter he rubbed at his face and groaned. He'd have to grab the book later and put it back but until then he was too embarrassed to even look at it. Bill had taped a note to the front that read, "If you think I look good with my suit on you're going to love how I look when I peel it off. "


End file.
